Attitudes towards work and the importance of meaningful work in Luxembourg

This newsletter will show how workers differ in their attitude to work. High levels of job orientation - i.e. a primarily financial motivation to work - is shown in particular by employees between 45-54 years old, as well as plant operators and employees working in the manufacturing industry. In contrast, there is a strong career orientation among male workers, workers in the youngestage category and managers. Persons working in public administration and health and social services report on average the most emphatic experience of meaningful work. Managers, workers in academic professions, as well as persons who work in public administration and in health and social services perceive their job as a source of meaning to a particularly high degree. It turns out that a high job orientation has an unfavourable relationship with various well-being aspects, while the experience of meaningful work and the degree to which the job is perceived as a source of meaning are associated with higher well-being.